An Epitaph to War

03

As Liesl was boarding the train, she glanced back to see a man staring at her.

Nervously, she looked away and fiddled with her ring.

When she looked up, the man was in front of her. In a thick, German accent, he said, "It has taken us a long time to find you."

Liesl pursed her lips. "What do you want?"

"Your father wishes to see you."

When the train stopped at a station, Liesl and the man got off. She walked carefully, not wanting him to pull the trigger of the gun currently pressed against her back.

They got into the back of a car and were driven to an airport.

From there, they boarded a private plane.

Liesl narrowed her eyes. "I escaped him once. I can do it again."

The man laughed. "You escaped him with help from your mother. But she is no longer here to save you, is she?"

"The only one who saves me is me. Rest assured, I will get out. I will find my friend and my husband. I will come back and destroy your corrupted organization. And you and your goons won't hurt my people again."

"Your people?" He noticed the tip of the Star of David around her neck and pulled it out. "This makes things much more interesting, liebling."

She swatted his hand away. "Don't call me darling."

"I was warned you would be feisty and difficult." He tied her hands behind her back and put a cloth between her slightly gaped lips before looking to the pilot. "Hurry."

As soon as they landed, Liesl was taken to a plane and she stared at it in awe before glaring.

Johann Schmidt walked up and said, "Thank you for bringing her home. Liesl, how are you?"

Liesl narrowed her eyes.

"Why is she tied up?"

"She only had insults to offer," the man said as he pulled out the Star of David necklace. "She's one of them."

Schmidt nodded. "We'll fix that." He pulled off the gag. "Better?"

"Hello, Father," Liesl spat.

"At least you can greet me with some semblance of respect. Where's your mother?"

"Not that you care, but she died years ago."

"I do care, liebling."

Liesl scoffed. "If you cared, she wouldn't have had to run away for fear of her beliefs!"

Schmidt pursed his lips. "It pains me to send you away shortly after we reunited, but I'm afraid I must."

"Where are you sending me?"

Another man walked up and said in a Russian accent, "We will train her to be the best she can be."

Schmidt nodded. "She has the spark to become greater than she is. I expect nothing less of perfection for what my daughter can become. She is not to get the graduation ceremony. Understand?"

The man nodded.

Liesl was once again forced to board a plane.

She closed her eyes and whispered, "Find me, Bucky. Find me, Steve."

The cloth was placed between her lips once again and the rings given to her by the man she loved on those special days were taken.

She looked at where her engagement and wedding rings had been and a tear fell down her cheek.

When the plane landed, she looked around at the snowy, vast landscape.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"Moscow," the man replied. "Come. You're expected."

Liesl begrudgingly followed the man inside what she guessed to be a bunker.

She passed a blonde-haired, blue-eyed teenage girl who stared at her coldly before a faint smile crossed her face.

As she looked around, Liesl could tell she was one of the oldest. Perhaps that would work in her favor.

They passed a group of girls doing ballet. Liesl had excelled in that. She'd always loved dancing and still remembered when she'd first gotten ballet shoes, then graduated to Pointe shoes. Sadly, ballet hadn't offered as much money as she'd hoped, though she had been good, so she'd turned to being a seamstress instead, which had provided more suitable wages.

But that all seemed an eternity ago.

She was pushed into a room and the door was locked behind her.

Liesl Barnes was officially a prisoner.